XMRV: another negative study in ‘Retrovirology’, 25 February 2011

March 1, 2011


Correspondence

Analysis of XMRV integration sites from human prostate cancer tissues suggests PCR contamination rather than genuine human infection

Jeremy A Garson emailPaul Kellam email and Greg J Towers email

Retrovirology 2011, 8:13doi:10.1186/1742-4690-8-13

Published:25 February 2011

Abstract (provisional)

XMRV is a gammaretrovirus associated in some studies with human prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome. Central to the hypothesis of XMRV as a human pathogen is the description of integration sites in DNA from prostate tumour tissues. Here we demonstrate that 2 of 14 patient-derived sites are identical to sites cloned in the same laboratory from experimentally infected DU145 cells. Identical integration sites have never previously been described in any retrovirus infection. We propose that the patient-derived sites are the result of PCR contamination. This observation further undermines the notion that XMRV is a genuine human pathogen.

A PDF of the complete paper can be found HERE

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